A container ship.
Nowadays more and more goods are carried in large containers all over the world.
Containers are steel boxes of different sizes (usually 8 by 8 by 20 or 40 feet - 2.4 by 2.4 by 5.9 or 12 metres). The advantages are:
Handling at docks is made by machines; and ship's holds can receive containers.
Very few stevedores are needed. A container ship takes 12 to 15 men, three to four days to load and unload (instead of a hundred men and 12 to 15 days of loading and unloading).
Goods can be received more quickly.
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